popeye the sailor

thanks John.......there's really a few more things to do on her. if I applied myself, the Norden could likely be done by the end of next week. Thermopylae will be back on the table after that.......hope'in I don't botch it thanks John {#2}........still have some more rigging to do.........I did a bit more and finally added the break waters to the bow. I'm ready to make up the sails, which I'm surprised that there aren't at least a few hoops, but I'm past that step now, so that won't happen. yea, I'm not crazy about the plastic fish either. I had some for another build.......never used them. I'm not much into that kind of detail....but I do have an idea that I might try {we'll see}. I was going to do a rack for the trays. in the Cux 87 build, the rack is one of the deck fittings I had to make, along with a sluice for the catch. it's a shrimper. I started populating the model, when this one was taken. my Sony camera had died too....RIP on the Mary Ann build, I copied the idea and added one to this build, along with a net repair rack. I added a lot of stuff to this build....too much....I thought at times. but ti was fun to do. detail was added to the winch, the hold and cover, and the pullys that rig the gallows. the buoys you see on both boats are decorative jewelry beads, altered with 7 mm brads, eye bolts {although I think the eye bolts were already part of the bead}, and paint. another thing I like to do, that John {#1} suggested to me, pertained to the life preservers. the plastic rope was cut off, and actual rope {thread} was cemented in it's place. the decals was my added touch.......having this decal program was money well spent. you can do about the same thing with photo shop, but I think it's harder to scale down the size. these two boats have the same general hull shape and contour, as the Norden. fitting one of these boat like the Norden would be very easy to do. I'm going to do these preservers the same way so......I have a few more things to think about.....perhaps even add something else here and there. OH.....and I still want to do something about a net

jeeze, with all the sub assemblies you've made, the progress is going to burst at the seams! definitely would be cool to snap a picture before you added all the parts, and then one after the Hood is going to be an awesome model....can I select a seat now ? the color on the paravanes.......I hardly noticed it. it will disappear in all the detail and reduce it'self to mere weathering!

the part I find most worrisome.......attaching the yards with all the lines going everywhere. she's look'in very good we're only seeing wind and rain in my neck 'o the woods.......wondering if we'll see a little snow by morning. I'm sure the seacoast is seeing worse with the high tides and all.

after not making much headway with the T.D. I though I'd go to the other table, to see what mayhem I could cause there. the boat was sitting on a towel all this time....guess I'll start with the stand first. I had cut some thin felt strips......the best parts were cut into short lengths, and then glued to the stand. I used Ca, even though there is an adhesive backing to the strips....I found they have a tendency to fall off after a period of time. there is a sort of name plate on the decal sheet.....figured I'd use it. not that I would forget the name, but for others when I'm not around {who knows}. now that the model is a bit more stable, I was able to finish the main mast shroud lines. taking out the measly small piece of sail cloth, I noticed that one end had some really bad fraying going on. So I cut a fresh piece of cloth to make the sails from. these sails don't do anything in the way of propelling the boat.......they are used primarily to keep the boat from rolling and pitching, as the work is being preformed. they are also simply tied in place too.......I would think there is some sort of rigging involved........I don't think someone shimmied up the masts to tie them. I'll do something the short boom for the aft mast was put in place as well.......two shroud line were added, as well as the stay rigging associated with the boom {no blocks involved}. I'll try and get a bit more done today......thanks for look'in in

good morning gents......on a chilly, wet, and potentially snow/slushy day {no snow yet......could very well come later}. fairly big storm coming our way......so far just the rain and wind has moved in. as mentioned, I took a look at some images of river boats. I found more modern vessels though, and not older ones. I must be real fussy.....I've found very few figures that reflect the period that I'm going for. I may have to 'modern up' a bit, so I can decide on what to get. ...and yes, white is the dominant color. I even saw the American Queen, which has four levels.......five counting the helm room. these vessels very well could have been the early concept for the cruise ships we know of today. bringing up a map of the Mississippi river and Louisiana, I just scrolled around and picked a place at random........Little Woods seemed like a good place. adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage, and the New Orleans French quarters. the name Eleanor 'Tipsy' La rue sticks in my mind, an ex-New Orleans madam, tired of the Madi Gras scene, gathered up a few friends and backers, and bought an old boat........fixed it up and struck out on her own. I played around with the decals a bit more, and with the aide of the admiral, we decided on what will go to print. once printed, I though I'd line the edges with tape to keep the bonder from seeping into the paper. some past decals were useless due to this, but I think it might have been that the bonder caused the paper to curl. it kept the paper flat, lessening the chance of color runs {this can happen too}. it was a good thing I printed two copies of the decals.........while removing the tape, it latched onto the decal surface and tore the film, ruining the third and fourth set of decals. the bonder is shiny as well........to obtain a flat finish, I'm trying a flat lacquer......I do have my doubts with it's survival rate using it. we'll see what happens when I go to use them. the deck and structures are dry now....each have gotten two coats......the deck with a semi gloss, and the structures with a gloss. I'm sure that when fully cured, the sheen will die down to some degree. the strip around the deck, turned pretty much the same hue as the bottom.......glad about that the deck sheen isn't too evident......a lot of it sucks into the deck. in talking to Hugh about his kit, his kit is older than mine......mine has a date on the box, in the lower right hand corner....2015. I'm not sure if others have experienced these problems with the ill fitting decks......mine seems to include the second level deck as well. dry fitting the deck over the structures, I'm beginning to wonder if I went the right direction with the adjustments on the main deck. the front slot is on the tab of the forward structure......the slot at the rear is 1/16 aft of the slot. if I were to have moved the front structure forward, then the rear corners of the aft structure, would have protruded past the rear second deck edge....not good. using the front tab as the guide, the deck sits over the rear structure correctly, but leaves the slot and tab off. I will need to trim the rear slot to fit. I also wondered if this accounted for the alignment issues with the support poles, when it comes time for the third deck level. strange.........you bet it is there are some steps that need to be done before the deck can be installed. I'll have time to ponder this new issue.

they are real.....I've seem 'em. some look like a wookie ..one of his baby pictures....look at the eyes....and the claws digging into the admiral's leg. he was a terror as a pup! he's mellowed out now, but the first thing that hits the floor, usually ends up in his lair under our bed. sticks to me like glue though.....my 'lil buddy

I think he's in it for the long haul.........but I think some "wood envy" is starting to creep in

good to hear Nenad! rest up and a speedy recovery to you!

..had to take a peek.......amazing what I see! very well done model.......like the way you made the turnbuckles...those are neat! it requires a left and right hand tap to make them? is you halyard rigging just temporary? it probably should be rigged on a couple more places to better support the gaff. darn nice looking model though...kudos!

thanks for the kind comments gents. and again, thanks to those who hit the like button. I spent some time at both tables....I cut my losses with the T.D. I hit onto another problem, and I caused another, so better left alone. thanks Grayhawk.......if they don't upgrade it, they should at least look at it and cure some of these problems. I'll explain when I post my update. thanks John........I've warmed up to them. especially since I looked at images of these vessels, and found that they are indeed......mostly white. I keep repeating the 'non conformist's oath'

even if the lantern is wrong.......you did a great job on it

I spelt sail wrong......I'm los'in it

coulda fooled me Danny...you hate it bad enough to do such great job? conflict of logic......the community will never know very nice work

Best wishes to you and Gwen. you did well weathering your last storm...fingers crossed she does well and recovery is short

simply beautiful job Glenn......I think you did an admirable job with tying and stowing the lines! great attention to detail.....and the sails look super have you fully recovered from giv'in her a knock? I can just imagine how you felt......I hate the feelling when everything falls to your feet wonderful looking ship......keep up the amazing progress

thanks for the kind comments and all who hit the like button been rather busy this afternoon.....no time to do much. after the structures and the main deck dried long enough, I did a dry fit.... I'm happy with it. I think it will be a nice change of pace to see one in a different color most that I've seen have been white {no offense....all the models I've seen have been done very well.......awesome, in fact}. we can blame it on Tom Sawyer for promoting whitewashing

nice to see you've started another project. Billing Boats has a model called the Slo mo Shun. I've been trying to get the admiral to let me get one, but so far no dice I have the instructions though for it, but just don't have the time to do a scratch build. count me in to follow along

this morning has been a bit jumpy for me.......did a couple online applications. seeing as some changes are to be made with the wood I use, I started right in with the edging around the main deck. I have some .5 x 3 mm mahogany thin strip that proved to be more flexible, than what they supplied to use. it also matches the bottom better as far as color goes. the main deck, after masking the bottom, was given a couple coats of semi gloss lacquer. when fully cured, the gloss factor will be minimal, but will seal the deck. not a real good picture, but it'll show how sunny the room is the structures were given a couple coats of gloss lacquer. I want more of a shine on them. hard to tell in this light.......here's a batter one.....I hope .....moving right along........ what?????.....an errand........oh bother!

looks awesome Doris.......the nibbing along the waterways is very well done did you cut the planking strips, or are they drawn on?

you should do a painting Piet........I'll bet the image is vivid in your memories. I never lived it......I was spared. last night I watched the Mel Gibson Movie "they were soldiers"........all of the women folks lived in a barrack community. sad to see them receive the telegram that their loved one had fallen. it also amazes me that so many decisive battles pass by with no notice or commemorations. your narration is really good

hello Lawrence.....thanks for the kind comment. hope to get something done on her today.......but it's so nice outside {very unnatural}. I took the Gibb-miester on an extended walk yesterday. things are gonna go down hill by Friday though........I hear all rain, but there may be some snow mixed in. I have a couple more things up my sleeve, but I should get my butt in gear and get the kit supplied aspects done too it's kinda hit or miss with the tooth picks.......I believe I found mine in a Market basket store {grocery}, but you can also look in craft stores, or any place that sells party goods.

I should apologize.....every time I turn around, I'm eluding back to the Nordkap. it was my first........I learned my basics on that vessel.......even bashing and scratch building. I do look at her from time to time..I see what I preach. some thing could have been done differently, but in retrospect, what I did then was right for the time as with other things I've don in the past........how many times have I stained anything, since the Regina build? I don't even think the log is here any more....fallout from the big crash. all going well, until I went to restain the hull. it wasn't even my model......Tom had sent the kit to me, to build for him. calling him to tell 'em the bad news.....I imagined him being upset....but he wasn't. he even liked my simple solution of renaming the subject.......and so it was renamed after his wife.. ....called the Susan A. planking was going smoothly........the new clippers worked much better, in trimming the excess planking along the edges. the earlier photo showed......... sanding along the edges, which prompted me to only go in one direction with the sanding stick, created some small nicks. tiny shards of wood...a couple of them can be seen in the picture. when I got back to the table, I finished this structure......while I was working on it, I cut up the rest of what I had stained, and started to plank the other one. too bad I didn't try to make them uniform, but the contrast of different planks boards is pretty neat. every side need to have an altered plank......I didn't need to use the 3 mm plank, but chose a given plank and fitted it in. some it's hard to tell, which I'm rather pleased about. it had to happen......laying in wait, looking for the right moment to spring the trap. ......and in one fell swoop, my attempt to touch up all the tiny nicks, went very dark. the stain even got on the edge molding....that had to be done as well. planking over it isn't an option........neither is painting it. the simplest solution is to change the direction slightly, and do more in the way of painting, than I wanted to. I guess the admiral heard me, 'cuz when I went to get a drink {non alcoholic}, she went in and put it on the deck. taking Gibbs out was added to the idle time.......when I got back to the table, I looked at it, keeping in mind her thoughts on it. I had forgotten to remove the excess planking from inside the rear access holes for the paddle mechanism. that was done, making sure I stained the inside walls that likely will be seen. little by little, I was warming up to the changes I would have to make in my plans. I like this room. most of what I did this morning, was done with no light. it's well into the afternoon now....shadows were taking over, lessening the ability to see. time to resort to the crane lamp. the other structure was in the process of being cleaned up. of course, the same results with those tiny nicks. no matter, the remedy has already been formulated..........on with the new direction next will be the four vents and all the doors. ........and now for something completely different painting the underside of the second level. done in flat pale gray, as with the underside of the main deck. it's Billing's paint, so I did it with a brush. I hope to have more on her very soon

thanks for all the kind comments and to those who hit the like button. I did get back to the structure planking........sadly I didn't get back to the Norden though I'll make it a point today. the planking results came out a bit different than I was planning, but the solution was very easy to come up with I use them for the same reason Piet.......this is why I needed a new pair. I was at the hobby store one day and found that they were out of the brass rod I was looking for. I saw some steel stuff and thought it would do the trick......boy........was I wrong! it served well for the mast braces for the Nordkap......but it ruined a pair of cutters, as well as the nail clippers I had at the time! .....took those cutters and snapped them off at the jaw! I still have some on hand......bought a larger pair of flat nosed nippers, just in case I ever needed to use it again hello Wallace! glad to have you looking in I really like them for trimming thread {rope}........gets within a hair of the knot, so no tell-tale tails. with all the tutorials and helpful folks here, I like to think we are the 'go to' place for anything model related. your here now.......your next model will look all the better for it

don't know how I lost track of this project.......but I did?!?! truly excellent work...especially the hull plating. very well done

the carriages look great Mark very well done